{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O119744"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O119744/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BL8646/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BL8646/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BL8646","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BL8647","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KA7040","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KA7068","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O119744/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O119744","accessionNumber":"736-1871","objectType":"Signet ring","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This ring would have been used as a signet, pressed into hot wax to seal a letter or packet.  Personal seals (secreta) provided an essential legal safeguard and were used to witness documents such as wills, deeds of gift, loans and commercial documents,  personal letters and land indentures. \r\n\r\nSignet rings could be engraved with a coat of arms or crest, an initial, a merchant's mark (a geometric symbol used to mark goods or personal belongings), or a personal symbol.  Sixteenth and seventeenth century portraits show signet rings worn on the forefinger or thumb, presumably to make it easy to apply the ring to the wax by turning the hand. They were items of jewellery with a practical function but the use of precious metals and engraved hardstones indicates that they were also signs of status.\nThe rock crystal set in this ring has been carved in intaglio (the design set into the stone) to be used as a signet. The letters VMN are an abbreviation of vergiss mein nicht ('Forget me not' in German. The forget-me-not flowers clasped between the pair of hands and the date 1572 suggest that it was used as a wedding ring. \r\n\nThis ring forms part of a collection of over 600 rings and engraved gems from the collection of Edmund Waterton (1830-81). Waterton was one of the foremost ring collectors of the nineteenth century and was the author of several articles on rings, a book on English devotion to the Virgin Mary and an unfinished catalogue of his collection (the manuscript is now the National Art Library). Waterton was noted for his extravagance and financial troubles caused him to place his collection in pawn with the    London jeweller Robert Phillips. When he was unable to repay the loan, Phillips offered to sell the collection to the Museum and it was acquired in 1871. A small group of rings which Waterton had held back were acquired in 1899. \n\nWaterton's manuscript catalogue (Dactyliotheca Watertoniana) records that this ring was found in the Seine in Paris, but the inscription suggests that the original wearer was German. ","physicalDescription":"Gold signet ring, the oval bezel set with reverse painted and gilded rock crystal intaglio engraved with a shield bearing two clasped hands with a bunch of forget-me-nots, also inscribed 'VMN'.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"},{"text":"quartz crystal","id":"AAT11152"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting (coating)","id":"AAT161986"},{"text":"gilding","id":"AAT53789"},{"text":"engraving (incising)","id":"AAT53829"},{"text":"intaglio","id":"AAT186231"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Gold with a reverse painted and gilded rock crystal intaglio","categories":[{"text":"Jewellery","id":"THES48930"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Europeana Fashion Project","id":"THES265804"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2007BL8646","2007BL8647","2017KA7040","2017KA7068"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"91 (VA)","id":"THES49703"},"free":"","case":"9","shelf":"B","box":"3"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Ring","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Germany","id":"x28873"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1572","earliest":"1572-01-01","latest":"1572-12-31"},"association":{"text":"dated","id":"AAT54714"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"2.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"2.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"1.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Shield bearing two clasped hands with a bunch of forget-me-nots","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Engraved on the bezel."},{"content":"'VMN'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed on the bezel with the abbreviation for 'vergiss mein nicht' (forget me not)."}],"objectHistory":"ex Waterton Collection. Said to have been found in the River Seine at Paris, 1859","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Gold signet ring, the oval bezel set with reverse painted and gilded rock crystal intaglio engraved with a shield  and inscribed 'VMN', Germany, dated 1572.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"hands","id":"x31539"},{"text":"forget-me-nots (flowers)","id":"x38062"},{"text":"shields (motifs)","id":"AAT230284"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"marriage","id":"AAT55475"},{"text":"love","id":"AAT55165"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["736-1871"],"accessionNumberNum":"736","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1871,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2017KE1139","2019LP2736","2019LT3125","2019LU2873"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2005-12-14","availableToBook":false}}